Office Love
by phannah17
Summary: Working with him was absolute hell and now he had the nerve, the absolute gall, to insult her fashion sense! Draco Malfoy was going down.


**A/N:** _Okay guys so first off I'm going to say that this story is completely AU and should not be taken seriously. It's just a random fun one-shot that popped into my mind and refused, I mean **refused**, to leave. So please don't flame me, especially about the fact that Lucius Malfoy's character is ridiculously OOC. I already know guys._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy it despite that and if you have the time let me know what you thought! _

* * *

"I - you - get me out of here!"

He stared at her with what he considered an extreme amount of patience, forcing himself to back away from the urge to lunge across the table between them and wring her skinny neck.

"Granger, would you mind sharing with me how you ever managed to become a top lawyer in this company?" Pausing briefly, he surveyed her with a tightened expression of disdain. "Clearly they never bothered to give you a mental health exam because if they had you would have failed miserably."

She shot him a look that he assumed was supposed to intimidating and determined that she wouldn't have been able to frighten a malnourished kitten.

"I'll have you know I passed that test with flying colors," she snapped in return, visibly stiffening as her honey eyes narrowed vindictively. "Bet that's more than you can say, Malfoy. You probably got in on your father's money!"

"Granger." He could only stare at her incomprehensibly, realizing that there must have been more truth to his previous statement than he had thought. "My father owns the fucking company."

"Exactly!" She declared triumphantly, a pleased smile overcoming her features.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, the only outward sign of his utter vexation with the wench across from him. "You know that, yet you continue speaking to me in your usual snide, condescending tone."

"My tone is not snide!" Her voice took on a shrill pitch that had him raising one brow sardonically. Seemingly understanding the implication of his gesture, a small blush rose to her cheeks. "It's not," she muttered, considerably more subdued.

"Right." He was done attempting to speak to her in any way civilly. Clearly, Granger was completely unbalanced, not that he was surprised.

She had been a working employee of their company for the past year. Somehow, in that very short amount of time, she had managed to rise through the ranks at a rate that no one else could possibly compare to. She had very quickly become one of the companies most valuable assets, working more hours than anyone else and on top of that, negotiating every contract they had to make largely in their favor.

He had been completely indifferent to her previously, neither caring if she vastly succeeded or failed miserably. That was up until the point where his bloody father had decided that the two of them would work together.

Two weeks ago she had been dumped inside his office. Literally.

Apparently she had adamantly refused to work with him and his father had actually called in security to carry her into Draco's office. Laughing, one of the guards had dropped her down into a chair opposite his desk, an amused expression on his face while she huffed indignantly.

Needless to say, he had not been pleased.

Ever since that point she had been the absolute bane of his existence. There was no exaggeration in that statement either. Every waking moment seemed to be spent with Granger and he had discovered that she was still the same insufferable know it all that he remembered from school, resolutely determined to be the best at everything.

Even that, though, would have been something he could handle. He was fairly sure that he could have dealt with the massively frizzy haired buck-toothed wonder he remembered so vividly. He simply would have goaded her the same way he had in the past, taunting her looks and eagerness to answer any question thrown her way.

Instead - somehow he just knew his father was enjoying this - he had been faced with the fact that Granger had become - he shuddered - _marginally _attractive.

She was definitely not beautiful, not even close, and far from the typical gorgeous girls that he surrounded himself with, but something about her ridiculous old lady skirts and I-am-never-going-to-get-laid turtlenecks had him doing double takes. It was absolutely infuriating that the most single-minded, annoying human being on the whole bloody planet had somehow managed to capture his interest.

He should have been repulsed by everything about her and not, although she accused him of it frequently, because she was a muggleborn. He would hardly be able to claim that as a reason after Potter had won the war. No, it was the fact that she was boring, bookish, and over-all completely drab. There was nothing remarkable in her mane of brown curls nor in her round light brown eyes. Well perhaps they were more golden than brown, but still that wasn't anything special.

The end result was that she was the most infuriating wench that he had ever met, an opinion he had shared with her frequently, and now, on top of being forced to work with her, they had been locked together into his office until, as his father had so eloquently put it, they worked out their differences.

Not _bloody_ likely.

"There must be some way out of here."

His eyes veered towards the ceiling as she attempted to once again wiggle the door knob. Honestly, he had never in his life met someone that was supposed to be so incredibly intelligent and instead turned out to be a complete and utter imbecile.

"Granger." He forced his tone to be patient, repeating the mantra that he would not strangle her over in his head. "The door is not going to open until we have worked this out. There is absolutely no use in you continually wrenching on the knob."

Those words left a ringing silence that had a small bead of sweat forming on his upper lip when his truly disgusting mind managed to go back and take a perverse sexual context out of his own statement, causing a barrage of imagery to appear within his head. With a strangled noise he spun away from her, pinching the bridge of his nose harder than usual. He was going to kill his father.

"Well excuse me for trying to do something productive!" She snapped back, her tone agitated as he listened to her shoes clicking on the floor. Obviously she had resumed her past pacing. Another habit that utterly infuriated him.

Productive. What an interesting word choice. He could think of several productive things that they could accomplish in this room...

He slammed his head against the wall, ignoring the fact that her pacing abruptly stopped and knowing full well that she was probably staring at him with her mouth agape, a look of surprise and shock on her features. Damn Granger and her ridiculous turtlenecks.

"I'm not even going to ask," she said finally, the pacing once again resuming. He silently thanked whatever forces were around him for small blessings.

Silence enshrouded them as he continued keeping his back towards her, listening to her continual shuffling with a growing aggravation. He honestly couldn't understand what his problem was. There had been nothing more that he enjoyed as a teenager than picking on Granger. He had never, not even in the least, felt any sort of begrudging attraction towards her. Her beating him at everything should certainly have quelled any interest that he might have had. It was a matter of pride after all. A Malfoy could hardly be with a woman who had the capability of being more intelligent than him.

Other than his father that was. His mother was possibly the only woman in a long line of Malfoy wives that managed to be a tad bit more clever than her spouse. He, however, was not planning on taking the route his father had. No, sir. He would much rather be stuck with an empty-minded, beautiful wife who never questioned anything he did.

Yet because of bleeding Granger he had been unable to even so much as take one woman out for the past two weeks without growing incredibly bored and dismissing said person. She was getting inside of his head and he needed to find a way to rid himself of her before this thing grew completely out of hand. Perhaps he simply needed to rid his system of her - a quick shag. That idea appealed to him enormously, but a small part of him knew that that would never be enough.

"Lets just get this over with."

He froze, all his muscles tightening instinctively at the sentence she uttered, wondering if she had been able to read his mind. He craned his neck and turned to see her sitting down in one of the chairs, a weary expression adorning her features.

"What?" Mentally, he cursed himself when his voice came out as a squeak.

She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "This getting along thing. Lets just figure out how to do it and get it over with so I can leave."

Right. Of course Granger hadn't been suggesting...

Cursing himself, her, and most importantly his father, he sank down into a chair across from her, a sullen expression on his face. "Fine."

"So..." She shifted nervously, her chair squeaking from the movement. He rolled his eyes, mouth tightening into a grimace and with an unexpected flare of anger she stood up, annoyance stamped on her features. "You know what Malfoy you are a prick!"

"And you're completely mental," he returned patiently, averting his eyes from looking directly into her face. His mind tended to go suspiciously blank whenever he really looked at her.

"I - I - you -" she spluttered, indignation apparent as she shook with what he inferred to be anger and frustration.

"I - you - what?" He snapped, sending her a look of disgust. "Can't you even form a single coherent sentence, Granger? Or has that ability left you to?"

She emitted what he could only interpret as a growl before stomping towards him and poking him viciously in the side. "What the hell, Granger?" He yelled out, completely taken aback by the action.

She poked him again, this time a bit more viciously. "I am sick and tired of you always undermining me Malfoy! You have absolutely no right to look down on me. Not only was I the best student in our class at Hogwarts, but I am the best lawyer your company has! I refuse, absolutely refuse, to be treated like some dirty mudblood just because of your ridiculous views on society, you insufferable pig-headed bigot!"

Her last word came out as a resounding yell while her hands shoved him backwards. With a startled yelp his chair gave way, taking him down with it. Cursing, he righted himself and shot one deadly look in her direction before yanking the collar of her turtleneck and slamming her up against the wall.

Rather than cowering away, the reaction he had dearly been hoping for, she kicked him in the shin. He winced, the pain momentarily blinding him. Granger had always been rather physical. That slap was still something he remembered all too well.

"Listen you mental case," he snapped, ignoring the fact that her shoe was still digging into his leg. "I have already explained to you about five thousand times - not that I would expect you to be able to get this through that thick head of yours - that I do not care about your blood. So please somehow manage to get that into your bloody brain before I smash it."

She spat in his face and he tightened his grip, his scowl deepening. "Secondly, I fully respect your ability as far as this company goes. I know that you are intelligent and both my father and I trust you with any case that goes your way."

Some of the malice on her face slid away, but she kept her eyes narrowed. He sighed, resisting the urge to shake her before continuing. "The reason, Granger, that I can not get along with you has absolutely nothing to do with your blood or your abilities. It's the fact that you are the biggest most insufferable know-it-all that I have ever met, not to mention the fact that you have absolutely no fashion sense."

She stared at him with a shocked expression on her face, mouth slightly agape, for about thirty seconds before responding. "Fashion sense?"

Slowly releasing her, he took a step back and once again, mentally cursed himself. Why the hell had he brought what she wore into the equation?

Shifting slightly, he mumbled in an almost inaudible voice, "Yes."

She continued staring at him for several more seconds before looking up and down herself with such a puzzled air that he almost laughed. Then, suddenly, her gaze snapped back up to his and a rush of color bloomed onto her cheeks. "You are the most bigoted, ridiculous excuse for a man that I have ever met!"

More color encased her cheeks as her eyes darted around the room fervently, an enraged expression on her features. "I absolutely refuse to spend one more minute in this room with you."

Sighing, he rolled his eyes and was about to explain to her, once again, that that was not an option when suddenly she picked up a chair. He raised his eyebrows with surprise and confusion as a determined expression came into her eyes. Then, with shock, he watched as she let out a war-like cry, lunging towards the door at full speed, the chair held out in front of her.

His mouth fell open as the door crashed down, the tense silence following the loud crash so thick someone could have cut a knife through it.

With a pleased smile she turned back towards him, a haughty expression on her face. "Sometimes things are just done better the muggle way."

With that she stepped daintily over the pile of rubble that had once been his office door and sailed out of the building, leaving a gobsmacked group of people behind her.

He stared at the pile of rubbish a moment longer before raising his eyes and meeting the obviously amused gaze of his father. He scowled automatically and Lucius smiled. "Next time we will have to remember that magic is not the only form of escaping."

"Did she even get her wand back?" Draco asked dryly as his father handed him his, kicking some of the pieces out of the way.

Lucius smiled coldly. "I believe she acciod it on her way out. Wandless magic. Our Ms. Granger is full of surprises, isn't she?"

He stared down at the broken door and raised one brow sardonically. "That's one way to put it."

* * *

Her fashion sense.

Her _fashion_ sense?!

Of all the typical bloody Malfoy things to say. She could kill him. She really could. Her restraint in that area had been so far, at least in her opinion, nothing short of a miracle.

Pompous, arrogant, righteous, prat!

She hadn't wanted to work with him. In fact, she had thrown such a fit she had literally been forced into his office and later filed a complaint for brutality that was completely dismissed. Lucius Malfoy had actually had the gall to be amused by what he called her 'antics.' She would give him bloody antics.

She had only agreed to work for them in the first place because they happened to be the most prestigious firm in the wizarding world. Rather than disappearing after the war, as many had thought they would, the Malfoy's had come back in their usual way and were now worth ten times more than they had previously been. She would know since on top of dealing with all of their companies finances, she also had helped with their personal ones.

If the Malfoy's money would be translated to muggle money they would be worth billions.

Either way, working for them had simply been an offer she couldn't refuse. The salary was incomparable to her other job and she had easily been able to start foundations for her pet projects such as S.P.E.W. She had truly been loving every minute of the job up until Lucius had ordered her to work with his evil spawn.

Ever since then life had been hell. He was constantly nit picking at her, insulting every possible aspect of her personality, and this...this was too much. The thing that really irked her the most was that somehow his insults managed to actually _get_ to her. Back at school she had simply been able to say that he was a 'git' and dismiss him from her mind. Now, however, she found that forgetting about him at the end of the day was simply not that easy. Even though he was a complete prick, he was still, unfortunately, incredibly good-looking and, much to her chagrin, rather intelligent. He was one of the few people she worked with that she, begrudgingly admitted could come up with better ideas than her own.

But still . . .

Fashion sense her arse. Just because she didn't dress like the obvious bimbos that he dated did not mean that she didn't have a fashion sense. Her wardrobe was modest and professional. Perhaps Ginny had told her it was a bit old lady-ish and perhaps she hadn't had a decent date in weeks, but she found no remarkable error in her clothing.

With an indignant expression she surveyed herself in the mirror. Her hair was, as usual, a mess of long curls. There was simply nothing that could be done about them. Her face was relatively simple, considering that she rarely bothered with make up and today had been no exception. Her cream turtleneck was professional if perhaps a bit unnecessary considering the heat of the weather. The plaid skirt was, she could admit, a bit long and hung an inch past her knees.

Squirming as she continued surveying herself she came to the realization that perhaps she had been neglecting herself and her wardrobe. After all she was only twenty-three and she could admit, although bitterly, that her clothes would be more suitable for someone double her age. With a scowl, she realized that perhaps Malfoy had a point, a minor one, but still...a point.

Sighing, she took one last glimpse at herself before apparting to Ginny's. She would show Malfoy.

* * *

His fast paced walk towards his office stopped abruptly as his gaze landed on a large group of males surrounding one office. Curiosity overcoming him, he walked towards them and stopped next to a rather short, beefy man.

"What's going on?"

One man turned towards him excitedly, his eyes bright. "New employee. She's one fine bird."

His own interest piqued, he found himself moving several steps forward, shoving his way through the small crowd. His father hadn't told him that they were hiring anyone new.

Stopping abruptly as he looked at the office he was in front of, a small frown formed on his face. What on earth were they talking about? This was Granger's office...

All the blood in his body plummeted as he looked at the woman inside. The long brown curls he had become accustomed to seeing were tamed and swept up into a bun that left a long, elegant neck revealed. A few soft tendrils escaped around a face that was expertly made up, the most appealing part of that face being the large golden eyes that dominated it. Her pink lips were curved ever so slightly as she glanced at the mass of them outside her office.

Standing up, she made her way towards the window and he felt the second punch. She was wearing a fitted top, one that hinted at curves he had stubbornly denied existed. Moving slowly, she continued her trek towards the window and his gaze shifted downwards. At this rate she was going to give him a heart attack. His mouth fell open at the short length of her skirt, leaving mile long and rather toned legs open for all to see.

She smiled at the group of them, a slow sensual smile that had his blood quickening, as she raised her hand up, pulling at something above the window. With an abrupt swiftness, shades descended and suddenly she was no longer in view.

A loud groan echoed out amongst the group as the men slowly departed, leaving him standing there absolutely dumbstruck.

Granger...was...what?

"Whatever did you say to her in your office yesterday?"

He turned his head slightly, forcing himself to snap out of the daze he was in, and met the coolly amused gaze of his father. "What?"

"Surely you must have said something - knowing you as I do, most likely an insult - in order to spur this sudden drastic change in her appearance."

Lucius smiled slowly at Draco's expression, the amusement he gained from watching the two of them only growing with every day. He had met Hermione Granger for her first interview and despite his best intentions, had been exceedingly impressed by the knowledge she displayed. Having since been a part of their company for a year, he had found himself growing slightly fond of the irrational yet stubborn girl.

She never backed down from any of the things she believed in, especially that ridiculous S.P.E.W. nonsense, and he couldn't help but admire her for it. Plus the fact that she had managed to go behind the scenes, rather sneakily, and gain funds for her projects - such as the house elf one - had been, in his opinion, a decidedly Malfoy trait. Any last resentments he had been holding onto had disappeared after he discovered that she had managed to snag in several of their companies leading beneficiaries for her own projects.

On top of all of that, he knew, despite his son's constant objections, that there was something else going on between the two of them. Their bickering was not a result of disdain and loathing as they so often pretended it to be and everyone else in the office, excluding them, knew it. Locking them together in the room yesterday had actually been a bet that had started amongst all the employees. Some had claimed they would kill each other, others had said Hermione would give Draco a black eye, and most had declared they would shag each other senseless.

No one had bet on her crashing the door down so all money had been returned, leaving most people incredibly disappointed with the results.

He had been one of them, hoping that the two of them would finally come to their senses. After the war, he had understood that in order to be accepted by the wizarding world he would drastically need to change his views. Having his son be with the most famous muggleborn in their world would certainly help prove that he and his family had in fact done just that. The fact that he begrudgingly respected the girl in question didn't hurt either.

"Well?" Lucius prodded, having received no answer as Draco continued to stare vacantly at the door.

"I - what?"

He sighed, eyes veering into a roll, but smiled nonetheless. "Never mind, Draco. Perhaps you should get to work rather than mooning outside Ms. Granger's office all day."

With a scowl and several choice curse words, Draco stormed back towards his own office, slamming the door so hard that several people surrounding it outside jumped.

Lucius sent them all a cordial smile, shaking his head apologetically before moving back towards his own office. Perhaps today would be more interesting than he had originally thought.

* * *

This proved it. All men were pigs.

If nothing else, dressing up like an incessant Barbie doll had made her realize that men were truly as shallow as they were made out to be. She had been welcomed to the company, a company she had been working at for a year nonetheless, about five times today by people she had worked with several times. Each one of them had been men and she had given them decidedly vicious glares before reminding them who she was.

Every single one of them had been flabbergasted and then two had actually had the nerve, the absolute gall, to ask her out.

They were lucky they had walked away with only red handprints across their cheeks.

Pigs. The lot of them! If this was going to be the type of thing she had to deal with every day as a result of an improved _fashion sense_ - mentally she cursed Malfoy - then she would most certainly prefer to go back to her old ways.

With that last angry thought she stormed towards Draco's office, determined to get this part of her day over with as quickly as possible.

* * *

"I heard you've got a new girl working here, Draco." Blaise grinned cheerfully, plopping himself down in the new replacement chair he had been given. Luckily, his father had already taken care of the door as well.

Scowling, Draco looked up and shook his head. "No, we don't."

"Really?" Confusion momentarily flickered across Blaise's face. "That's not what I heard. That Klein bloke was babbling on about some really good-looking bird -"

"Klein's an idiot," Draco interrupted viciously, shuffling the papers around on his desk with a controlled violence.

All day long he had been hearing about Granger and her new look - once people had actually realized it was her. He had found himself more than a little pissed off by the time the third employee had commented on asking her out. He had now threatened half the male employees that if they so much as looked in her direction they would be out of a job.

Needless to say, he had a feeling that Granger would not be so pleased if she found out about that threat. She would probably break his bloody door again, but he found himself really not giving a damn. He would simply refuse to allow her to date any of them. She would thank him for it in the long run.

"Malfoy-"

He looked up abruptly and felt that same daze that he had tried to ignore before hand overcome him. Did she have to wear such a bloody short skirt?

"Erm...sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt." Nervously she moved to back out, but Blaise grinned before she could leave.

"Oh don't worry, Granger. You're not interrupting anything. I was just asking Draco here about the supposed new employee."

Her face darkened while Draco shot Blaise a dirty look. "There is no new employee."

"That's so weird," Blaise commented, shaking his head perplexedly. "I wonder who they were talking about then."

"They were talking about me," Hermione snapped, stepping into the office and shutting the door. "Apparently none of them recognized me this morning since I decided to upgrade my -" she paused for a moment, eyes narrowing in Draco's direction, "fashion sense."

Draco rolled his eyes, prepared to comment when Blaise broke in. "That's insane, Granger. You look as lovely as always."

Draco went stiff while a becoming flush crept onto Hermione's cheeks, his eyes going cold in Blaise's direction. Blaise didn't bother to spare him a glance, instead smiling widely at Hermione.

She rocked back on her heels, but her lips curved shyly. "Thanks Blaise."

She was bloody thanking him?! His hands tightened around the arms of his chair violently. She should not be looking at Blaise like that.

Blaise's grin turned wicked as he shot a glance towards Draco before standing up and stretching. He sauntered towards the door, making sure to brush his fingertips lightly across Hermione's arm as he left. "I'll leave you guys to the business. If you're free for pleasure later though just give me a call, Granger."

His grin widened as he practically felt the rage in Draco's glare scorch his retreating back. With a smirk he shut the door and grinned in Lucius' direction.

His part was now officially done.

Feeling decidedly flustered, Hermione turned towards Draco and almost backed up with surprise at the furious expression on his face. Raising one brow eloquently, she moved to the seat and sat down across from him.

"Feeling alright, Malfoy?"

"Fine," he muttered through gritted teeth, forcing himself not to go and lunge after Blaise. He could hardly forbid him to speak to Hermione right in front of her. The urge to do it anyway, though, was very difficult to ignore.

Wisely, she refrained from commenting, instead crossing her legs and humming nonsensically, while laying out the files they would need to finish up their latest project.

There was a slit in her skirt. A slit that showed even more leg than he had previously seen. Cursing under his breath, he forced his eyes away, wondering why in the hell he had ever mentioned fashion sense to Granger. This retaliation was going to be the death of him. He knew that there was no way any of his usual dates would be able to satisfy him. Not now. For Christ's sake he hadn't even been able to stop his infatuation when she covered herself completely. Now he was done for.

"We need to reorganize the Flint's files. I have no idea what the person who was originally sorting these was thinking -"

His gaze drifted towards her lips while she spoke and he noticed that they were bare. Of course that would be the one part of her face she wouldn't put anything on -

" - and we definitely need to think about making some drastic changes as far as the way you guys were thinking about buying out the new Nimbus' -"

She was wearing earrings. He didn't think he had ever seen her wearing them before. They were simple, long with small pearls dangling at the end. Something about the way they swung as she moved her head was oddly appealing.

"- Also we should really write up a new contract on your merging with the Zabini's company. I think that -"

"Do you like him?" He interrupted abruptly, staring at her intensely.

She looked up with surprise, setting down several of the papers she had been holding. "Excuse me?"

"Zabini?" He all but spat the name, ignoring the fact that they had been best friends for years. "Do you fancy him or something?"

She stared at him, taken aback completely by the menace in his tone. "He seems like a very nice man -"

"That's not what I asked," he retorted angrily, keeping his eyes on hers. "I asked if you fancied him?"

"I hardly see how that's any of your business," she returned coolly, averting her gaze back towards the files.

His hand snapped out, wrapping around her wrist tightly. Startled, she dropped several of the papers, looking up at him with an indignant expression.

"Let me go you ponce," she declared shrilly, attempting to yank her arm free.

He ignored her completely. "Do you fancy Zabini?"

Snarling, she brought her other hand up and slapped at the one he had clenching her wrist. "That is none of your business. Now let go of me."

Scowling, he only increased his grip. "You are not allowed to go out with him."

That shocked her enough to have her one hand fall limply to her side. "Excuse me?"

"You are not allowed to go out with Zabini."

She blinked several times, sure that she must have misheard him. "What?"

He gritted his teeth together with annoyance. "You heard me the first time, Granger."

She stared at him for several seconds and then laughed. Outright laughed in his face. "Oh good one, Malfoy. You had me going there for a minute -"

"I wasn't joking, Granger," he interrupted coolly, removing his hand from her wrist and schooling his expression to be carefully blank. "You can't date members of an opposing company."

Her expression went from shocked to annoyed. "Malfoy, you're merging with his company. News flash; he's not an opposing one."

"We're working towards merging with them you mean," he broke in, his expression still cool. That could easily be changed as well, he reminded himself.

"Th - that's ridiculous!" She replied finally, the annoyance turning to outrage. "You completely made that up!"

"No, I didn't," he returned evenly, ignoring the flare of anger in her eyes. "Ask my father if you don't believe me."

"I will!" She declared abruptly, standing up to walk out the door. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, forcing her back down within two seconds. Her lips curled into a snarl. "I knew you were lying! Listen here Malfoy. I will go out with whom ever I please. You have absolutely no say in the matter."

For a moment he saw red at the idea of her dating somebody else. Briefly he pondered over why anyone would ever associate the color green with jealousy. Not that he was jealous of course, that was far to human of an emotion for a Malfoy, but still. Red suited it far more.

"No, you listen to me, Granger. You are not allowed to date Blaise and that's the end of this conversation."

She seethed with rage, infuriated at the fact that he thought he could control any aspect of her life, especially such a personal one. "Malfoy, let me reiterate more clearly. I can date anyone who I want and I _will_ date anyone who I want, whether or not I have your infamous approval."

"It's not about approval, Granger -"

"Oh isn't it?" She interrupted furiously, her tone a pitch higher than usual. "Isn't this just because you don't want your best friend dating someone you find irrevocably infuriating? Well guess what Malfoy you don't get to be in control of sodding everyone. If he wants to date me and I want to date him then we date whether or not you bloody approve!"

He stared at her flushed face with surprise, wondering how the hell she had gotten the idea into her head that it was because he thought she wasn't good enough that he didn't want her dating Blaise. "Granger, your being good enough is hardly the issue at hand."

Her eyes narrowed, annoyance creeping back up into her features. "Well then what is your problem?"

He wondered, not for the first time, how someone so intelligent could be so completely and utterly daft. "My problem, Granger? _My_ problem?"

He reached out and grabbed her arms, bringing her face closer to his before responding. "My problem, Granger, is you."

"Me?" She cried out, completely outraged once again. "Me?"

"Yes, Granger. _You_. You are my bloody problem."

Before he could so much as blink she had rammed her fist into his gut, following that action by stomping down, hard, onto his foot. Sneering at him as he doubled over she made to leave, but his hand darted out once again, wrapping around her wrist and yanking her back.

"What is it with you and hitting me?" He asked through clenched teeth as the pain ebbed away.

She glowered at him, attempting to pull her arm free. "You deserve it."

"If you would just let me finish," he replied angrily, standing up fully and tightening his grip, "then maybe you would -"

"Why should I?" She demanded before he could finish, poking him in the chest. "I already know what your problem with me is. You outlined it all so clearly yesterday."

Angrily she once again attempted to yank her hand free, snarling when his grip didn't budge. "You have no right to be angry with me in the first place. Today I have a fashion sense, don't I?"

She just had to go back to the clothes, he thought with an oath, forcing his gaze to not stray towards her body as it wanted to. "I liked your old clothes better," he muttered quietly.

Her struggling stopped as she stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, determined not to speak about anything she was wearing. "Look, Granger, it's not what you think, alright?"

"You liked my old clothes better?" She asked, astonishment in her tone as she completely disregarded everything else he was saying. "Is that what you said?"

He shifted nervously, knowing that he somehow managed to dig himself into a hole. "I - look -"

"You can't be serious!" She exclaimed indignantly, taking a step back as he finally relinquished his grip on her. "Do you know how much these clothes cost me?" She pointed at the shirt she was wearing. "This shirt cost me twenty pounds! Twenty! And this skirt -" she pulled at it while his gaze drifted downwards towards the bare legs he had been trying to avoid. "This skirt cost me thirty!"

Thirty pounds very well spent, he thought blankly, his eyes now stuck on her legs. Damn it. He felt like he was a teenager all over again facing Pansy for the very first time. No matter what Potter had said Pansy had been neither pug-faced nor ugly and now he was beginning to think that he was going to have to say that he had been just as drastically wrong with Granger.

"If you think this isn't the sort of thing that's in style right now then you're the one with no fashion sense," she continued on, utter vexation laced within her tone while one hand continued to play with the hem of her skirt. "I even took Ginny with me and she certainly -"

"Granger, it's not about being in style!" He finally cut in, forcing her to stop with her rambling speech. "Honestly, I'm not a bloody poof. I don't seriously care that much about what's in style, I was just insulting you for whatever things I could find." Cursing, he rubbed a hand over his face. "I just - I mean - people are looking at you!"

Her expression morphed into one of bewilderment. "What?"

"Men," he spat through gritted teeth. "Men are looking at you."

She blinked. "So?"

"So," he responded tightly, his gaze so intense that she almost took a step back, "I don't like people looking at what's mine."

She stared at him for about thirty seconds before breaking into a peal of laughter that was abruptly cut off as his lips captured hers in such a forceful kiss that for a moment she reeled backwards.

Stunned, she gasped and he took advantage of the opening, sliding his tongue between her lips and spinning her around until she was up against the wall. One hand pulled at the clip her hair had been so tidily pulled up in and ripped it out, allowing the mass of curls to fall freely over her shoulders. The other roughly pulled the tucked in shirt out, letting his fingers play across her smooth skin.

She gasped again at the sensation of his palm against her bare skin, her own hands sliding under his shirt to feel the taut muscles that she had heard so many of the other women in the office rave about. Her fingers explored and he growled against her mouth, pressing himself even closer up against her.

Any thoughts of protest firmly left her mind as his mouth continued to do fantastic things to hers. Smiling, she allowed her fingers to drift farther down, lightly sinking into his pants.

With another growl, he abruptly spun around, knocking all the items off of his desk while keeping his other arm firmly wrapped around her. She balked with surprise for a moment when he pushed her up against the desk, but found herself sinking against it when his mouth moved downwards.

She found herself deciding that sometimes it was better to just feel. She had always thought too damn much.

* * *

Blaise grinned as they listened to the crash from the other office. One eyebrow raised suggestively in Lucius' direction. "I guess they forgot the silencing charm."

Lucius smirked. "Hopefully they remembered to lock the door." Standing up, his smirk formed into a smile as he wandered over to a table, pouring both himself and Blaise a drink.

Offering the glass, he smiled again. "You did your part well."

"Ah well." Blaise grinned wickedly. "Draco's always been an easy one to get jealous. Not that I didn't have my own share of fun doing it. Granger is rather lovely."

"Yes well," Lucius paused, a considering expression on his face. "It would probably be best if you didn't mention anything like that to Draco again. I doubt that after this he would refrain from violence." He smirked. "Rather possessive, my son is."

"Wonder where he got that from," Blaise remarked dryly, quickly quieting at the look Lucius sent him. "Not saying that you're possessive...not at all..."

"Right." Lucius stared him down for a moment before raising his glass towards Blaise's. "To a merging of companies."

"A merging of companies," Blaise agreed affably, clinking his glass against Lucius'. Both of their smiles turned to smirks when another loud crash issued from Draco's office.

Blaise grinned cheekily. "And to the future Mrs. Malfoy."

Lucius smiled, raising his glass one more. "To the future Mrs. Malfoy."

* * *

She couldn't believe what they had done. A mild ball of panic formed into her stomach and she immediately attempted to roll over, determined to get her clothes, when Draco pulled her back against him firmly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She attempted to struggle away from him, but he completely ignored her, bringing her even closer. "Let me go, Draco."

"I like the way you say that," he murmured quietly into her ear, gently biting down on it. A soft moan escaped her as he continued with the motion, his lips trailing down to her neck. "Say it again."

"Say what?" She asked weakly, any attempts at getting away fading as she leaned back into him.

"My name," he whispered quietly, one hand caressing her hip bone.

She almost purred. "Draco."

"Good girl." Rolling over, he landed on top of her, bringing his lips down to crash onto hers for one, long lingering kiss. "I know you Hermione. You're going to start thinking and when you do you're going to decide that this was a mistake."

She found all of her thoughts leaving as he continued kissing and caressing her weak spots.

He smiled against her mouth. "So before you start thinking too deeply, I'm going to tell you that this wasn't a mistake and that there is no way you're walking out of this office without understanding the fact that you..." He kissed her cheek gently, "are..." he brought both her hands up in his, letting his lips linger on each, "mine."

He brought his mouth to hers once again and she could only sigh. Bloody Malfoy. She knew that his stubborness could only be matched to hers, and in knowing that was fairly certain that no man was ever going to be able to so much as look in her direction without him becoming possessive.

She smiled at the thought, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him closer. Right before their lips connected she stopped him, staring him in the eyes seriously. "You're still a git."

"And you're still a know-it-all," he responded affably, kissing her quickly. "But you're _my_ know-it-all."

She rolled her eyes, but her lips betrayed her by curving upwards. "Fine. But then you're my git."

He grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Neither would she.


End file.
